Adrian Newey announced his exit from Red Bull over a couple of months ago. Many believed it was because of the power struggle within Red Bull. To some extent, that is reportedly also due to Pierre Wache taking over the design ideology for the RB20. Newey was never a fan of the current sidepod ideology and reports now suggest that the mastermind’s advice was ignored.
According to the Italian website Formu1a.uno, Wache “wanted to change the aero mechanical compromise to gain performance, especially at low and medium speeds but without losing ground at high speeds”. Therefore, the drastically different RB20 design was brought forward by Wache and Co. However, certain elements of the design didn’t bode well with the aerodynamics genius Newey.
| Adrian Newey is not entirely convinced by RB20, according to @formu1a__uno.
Elements including the cooling, saying “It is something that will change later in the season or more probably next year.”
The ‘shark inlet’ and the inlets on the halo are also disliked by Newey,… pic.twitter.com/o5DiU6L6ol
— RBR News (@redbulletin) July 16, 2024
With the ground effect producing almost half the downforce of the car, the handling characteristics of the car depend much more on the low-pressure area underneath the car. With Wache’s vision to improve low-speed drivability and performance, Red Bull opted for the current aggressive concept of the side pods on the RB20.
As a result, the cooling intakes were moved around with inlets placed vertically next to the cockpit and overbite-styled slim side pods. Even the air intakes next to the halo gave way to the shoulders near the engine cover. This moved the cooling to the high-pressure areas leaving space open to work around the low-pressure areas.
Reportedly, Newey strongly opposed this idea. Before his exit, Newey hinted at changing the ideology midway through the season. Regardless, Red Bull are now struggling to find pace with the RB20 as McLaren and Mercedes bring massive upgrades to get ahead in the performance index.
Although, the Red Bull CTO’s exit wasn’t just dependent on this technical disagreement.
Red Bull’s power struggle – a precursor to Newey’s Exit
Adrian Newey is believed to have little influence on the RB20 design. Horner advised that Pierre Wache and Co. had as much input as Newey regarding the RB20 design. However, after the investigation against the Red Bull boss, reports of Horner wanting to take over the Red Bull motorsport and beverage division came out.
Amid this, Horner would’ve liked to have as many people on his side as possible. Helmut Marko reportedly rebelled against the idea with Newey wanting to stay out of it. However, he got involved when Pierre Wache was given the authority to go forward with the design and disregarded Newey’s advice.
It is believed that Ferrari-bound Loic Serra tried convincing Wache to join the Scuderia as well. However, Horner is believed to have stopped Wache suggesting that there is a bigger role for him to play at Red Bull. With Newey now stepping away, Wache will probably take over his reign.
Reports of Newey’s discomfort at the team started pouring in months before the mastermind actually announced his exit. Since the 65-year-old’s exit has been announced, Red Bull has only fallen down the performance ladder. With a major upgrade package incoming for Hungary, it would be interesting to see what Wache and Co. have cooked while finding performance.
